F4 Bass Clarinet Fingering
How to play F4 on the bass clarinet: Thumb.
Filled keys and holes in the diagram are the ones you press or cover. The thumb hole is on the back of the instrument, so it is drawn to the left; the clusters at the bottom are the pinky keys, and the wide key marked "Low E♭" is the bass clarinet's extension key, below the right-hand pinky keys.
Hear F4 and try the fingering
Pick an instrument and a note and the diagram updates instantly — filled keys are the ones you press. The same finder sits on every note page, pre-set to that note.
The F4 fingering, step by step
- Cover the thumb hole with your left thumb.
In short: thumb.
About F4 on the bass clarinet
These notes bridge the low register and the throat tones. Most of them keep the left hand fully down while the right hand opens up, which makes them a good test of whether your left-hand position is staying put on the larger keywork.
F4 is note 15 of the 34 in the full bass clarinet fingering chart, sitting between E4 below it and F♯4 above it.
Doubling from soprano clarinet? This is the same fingering as F4 on the clarinet — the Boehm fingerings are shared across the clarinet family, which is why the bass is the standard first double. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide's bass clarinet charts and Yamaha's official chart before publishing.
Practising F4
Keep the left hand down and lift only the fingers this fingering asks for. Extra lifted fingers make the pitch wander and the tone thin out — more noticeable on the bass than on the soprano.
Questions about F4
What is the fingering for F4 on bass clarinet?
Thumb. F4 is a middle register note on the bass clarinet. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does F4 sound like on a bass clarinet?
The bass clarinet is a transposing instrument in B♭ that sounds a major ninth below its written notes, so written F4 sounds as concert E♭3. When your band director asks for a concert E♭3, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for F4?
For F4, the fingering above is the one to learn. It is the basic fingering both reference charts give for this note, and the one teachers expect to see.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.